


An Unlikely Friend

by ahsokaa



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, I tried at least, sort of (?)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 10:16:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12252339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahsokaa/pseuds/ahsokaa
Summary: She gives him a small smile that makes his heart jump in a way that feels weird, but good. “See you around. And by the way, nice hat.”Or, a short series of moments between Ned and MJ that take place between what we see in Homecoming





	An Unlikely Friend

Ned scans the room nervously, looking for someone- anyone- to talk to. Peter still hasn’t come back and he’s starting to think something must have happened; that he probably _isn’t_ coming back, leaving Ned standing awkwardly amongst a crowd of peers who don’t really like him. He’s contemplating admitting defeat and going home when he hears a voice behind him.

“Parker ditched you, huh?”

He turns around and finds himself face to face with Michelle Jones. “He’s around here somewhere,” Ned lies.

“Doubt it. I’m pretty sure I saw him crawling on the roof.” He flinches at that, Peter _really_ needs to be more careful.

He lets out a sigh. “You were right, this party is lame.”

She shrugs. “It doesn’t have to be.” She grabs two sodas and an entire bag of chips and walks away. When he doesn’t follow, she turns around and gives him an odd look. “Are you coming or not?”

“Oh, I- yeah,” he stutters, catching up to her.

She leads them up to the roof and perches herself on the edge, looking out over the neighborhood. Ned takes a seat next to her, breathing a sigh of relief. It’s quiet, a nice change from the loud music and voices inside that made it nearly impossible to hear his own thoughts. She hands him a soda and he says a quiet thank you, opening it and taking a sip. They sit there for a few minutes in silence, looking out over the party in full swing beneath them. It should feel awkward, he thinks. Sitting here with a girl he hardly knows, neither of them speaking, but something about it feels comfortable, almost familiar.

They hide up there until the party ends, making fun of their classmates and eating stolen food. Ned almost falls off the roof laughing when Michelle nails Flash in the head with her empty soda can. He's surprised that he's actually enjoying himself, and that Michelle is less scary one-on-one. When the party starts to wind down and Ned has to leave to meet curfew, he turns to Michelle.

“Thanks- for saving me back there. I actually had fun tonight.”

She gives him a small smile that makes his heart jump in a way that feels weird, but good. “See you around. And by the way, nice hat.”

________________

He doesn’t see much of Michelle after that night. But that changes the night before nationals. Ned paces his empty hotel room, unable to relax. Peter is out there somewhere, and there’s nothing he can do to help. He could be hurt and Ned would have no way of knowing. It makes him feel useless.

A knock on the door interrupts his thoughts. He's surprised to see Michelle standing in the doorway, book in hand.

“Hi?” he says, confusion seeping through his voice.

“Hey,” she responds. “What are you doing in here? The rest of the team is in the pool.”

“You're not,” he points out.

“Whatever. Are you gonna let me in or not?”

“I guess?” He steps aside, allowing her to walk through the doorway. She looks at him, then glances around the room, as if making a mental note of everything she sees.

“Where's Parker?”

“He's studying. In the business center.”

“That's funny, I didn't see him when I walked by.”

“He- I-”

“Relax, Leeds. I don't actually care.”

She takes a seat on his bed and opens her book, leaving Ned standing there, staring at her with a dumbstruck expression on his face.

“What are you doing here?” He finally blurts. Michelle has barely spoken to him since Liz’s party, leaving him to wonder if he’d imagined the whole thing.

“Thought you could use some company,” she replies, eyes never leaving her book.

He thinks about this offer for a moment. He supposes it would be nice to get his mind off Peter for a while; there's nothing he can do for the other boy at the moment and stressing over it isn't helping. “Fine,” he says and she finally looks up at him. “What did you have in mind?”

They turn on reruns of _The Office_ and pop an overpriced bag of popcorn they find in the minibar. Ned laughs as Michelle tries to catch the pieces in her mouth and fails miserably. He finds a deck of cards in his bag and they play a few rounds of go fish because it’s the only game they both remember the rules to. He doesn’t realize how much time has passed until he looks at the clock and see that it’s 2:00 AM. They have to be up early the next morning so Michelle says goodnight and they agree to meet up for breakfast. Ned feels too excited to sleep (whether it’s because of the decathlon or his new breakfast plans, he’s not sure).

________________

Their trip goes horribly wrong when the decathlon team is trapped inside the Washington monument, hundreds of feet off the ground. The elevator makes a nervous creak and Ned can’t help but panic. He thinks of Michelle, safely on the ground and wishes more than ever that he’d stayed with her.

Just when things are starting to look hopeless, Spider-Man shows up just in time to save the day. He feels a rush of excitement as Peter pulls them to safety, then disappears down the elevator shaft once again.

Police evacuate the team from the building and the monument is blocked off. Reporters swarm them, asking questions Ned doesn’t want to answer. He stays off to the side, still in shock.

Michelle comes and stands next to him, watching him for a moment before finally speaking. “I’m glad you’re okay,” she says quietly.

“Yeah, me too.” He stares into her eyes, wanting to say more, but the words don’t come.

________________

The debate team is welcomed back warmly from D.C. The entire school is abuzz with rumors of Spider-Man’s latest rescue. But soon enough, the school shifts its focus back to the upcoming homecoming dance. He finds himself dreading it. Amidst nationals and helping Peter with Spider-Man stuff, he realizes he never found a date. “ _Oh well_ ,” he shrugs it off. It’s not like there was anyone he would have really wanted to go with anyway. His thoughts definitely don’t drift to a certain curly-haired girl on the decathlon team.

________________

Peter bails on Spanish class. Ned isn’t surprised, but he adds it to his mental list of reasons why he’s worried about his best friend (a list that seems to expand every day). The quiz is shorter than expected, and then they’re instructed to work in pairs on their next assignment. Ned turns to Peter’s desk on instinct before remembering that, _duh_ , his usual partner isn’t here today. Someone taps him on the shoulder and he turns around to find Michelle standing in front of him, notebook in hand.

“Need a partner?”

He nods and she takes a seat in the empty desk next to him, the one usually occupied by Peter.

As if reading his mind, she asks “Where’d he run off to anyway?”

“I don’t know,” he sighs, and this time, it’s the truth.

She doesn’t push him further on it and they start work on their assignment, quickly finishing the first section and moving on to the next. All of the sudden, Ned can’t focus. He finds himself staring at Michelle; the way her brows furrow in concentration, the way her hair falls in her face as she writes.

“Can I ask you something?” he blurts suddenly.

“Shoot,” she says, but doesn’t look up from what she’s writing.

“Homecoming is this weekend.”

“Yes,” She looks up at him, a calculating look in her eyes. “That isn’t a question, though.”

“I know- I mean- Do you want to go with me?” he forces out before he can overthink it.

“Okay,” she says with a small smile and a warm feeling fills Ned’s chest. Maybe homecoming wouldn’t be so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> i got the idea after i saw this post (http://ahsokaa.tumblr.com/post/165816328665/spideychelle-romanogers-thats-a-corsage-who) on tumblr. 
> 
> ned and mj going to homecoming together is such a pure concept i felt like i needed to write it. catch me at ahsokaa.tumblr.com


End file.
